A Question of Innocence
by Seguchi Touma
Summary: Yaoi - AxS, probably others - When the building came down, Ran found himself trapped with Schuldich, saved by the telepath from downing. Now Schwarz is pulling itself together and hunting down their errant, comatose missing German.
1. Chapter One The Ocean of Forgetfulness

Title: A Question of Innocence   
Pairings : RanxSchu  
Warnings: Yaoi (like you hadn't guessed it from what I write) Post series, so if you haven't seen the series and don't want what happens in it spoiled, don't read this. Manga spoilers as well. If you haven't read that and don't want it spoiled, don't read... Violence (this is Weiß Kreuz after all)... Crashers spoilers as well for Ran's preWeiß time...  
  
  
The world had come tumbling down on Ran, or at least that's what it felt like. One moment he had been trying to slice Crawford apart, the next he was in a freefall with stone raining down on him. As he plunged downwards, he had the cold comfort of knowing that Aya-chan was safe by now. Manx wouldn't have let her or Sakura be in the path of whatever was destroying this accursed building finally. He had avenged his sister, and he could die now... or so he thought. The cornres of his lips turned up slightly at the knowledge that he was going to take Schwarz with him. On this little trip to Hell, he wasn't going alone.  
  
Hitting the level below, leather cracked against leather, his coat snapping around him wetly while the cold waters of the sea splashed up and onto him. Distantly, Ran could hear the others... Omi was shouting for him, Youji, and Ken, and they were answering. A pained breath was taken as he started to call out as well, his body informing him that he'd broken or sprung at least one rib. Little wonder considering the debris he'd landed on. Before the words could get out, someone fell on him in a flash of white, sending both of them tumbling down the rockslide. Support beams groaned as they gave way above them, the room he'd landed in tilting before slowly tumbling downwards, sending its two occupants in another roll like ragdolls. With cold seawater stinging his mouth, black roses bloomed before Ran's eyes, dragging him into unconsciousness.  
  
The slow dripping of water was the first thing that Abyssinian heard as he started to come to. Someone was holding him as well, both of them wet and shivering. There was an occasional creak, an ominous sound of walls trying to hold against tons of water trying to crush it down and into nothingness. Rubied lashes slowly parted, taking in what little there was to be seen. Blackness greeted him, pierced only by a glimmering coal of a cigarette... or rather a clove from the vanilla-cinnamon scent that came from the drifting smoke. The arms wrapped about him shifted slightly, Ran letting himself remain boneless feeling, not wanting to alert whoever had him that he was awake once more. A soft spatter of Germanic curses came as he felt himself dragged upwards, lifted and then resettled. The water that had been trying to soak his legs fell away, pooling below him.  
  
"Mein Gott, Ranran. What have you been eating? Gorging yourself on Pocky? You weigh a ton."  
  
Of all the people that Ran would have not wanted to be trapped with, Schuldich was second on that list. Ran repressed the shudder for now at being touched by the man, trying to keep up his act of playing possum.  
  
"Really now, Ranran. You don't think I can tell the difference between an unconscious and a conscious mind? Out of curiosity, who is first?"  
  
Trying to jerk himself free of the German's arms, a futile effort in the end as Schuldich held him tightly against his shivering body. Ran's longcoat had been removed and was wrapped about his front now, Schu cradling him against his chest. The darkness about them was complete except for that single spark of the clove. From it, he could barely make out the dirtied white of the telepath's suit. "Where is my katana?"  
  
Seductive laughter edged with harshness rolled out to greet him. He could feel Schuldich's breath stirring by his ear and neck as he spoke, the man's chin resting on his shoulder. "It's at your side. I would deprive you of your toy, and I still want to know. If I'm second, who is first?"  
  
Amethyst eyes narrowed in annoyance as his hand closed about the hilt of his blade finally, a surge of reassurance flashing through Ran. It had always been a touchstone of sorts for him... death for others. "Where are we? Let go of me now, Schwarz."  
  
More of that smoky laughter and the soft sounds of a drag being taken off the clove. In the faint brightening of the coal, the telepath's face became visible to Ran's turned head. Trails of crimson lined the German's face, making jagged lines down his forehead, temple, and cheek from a head wound. Noticing his gaze, Schuldich hastily lowered the clove once more, his other arm relaxing to release Ran from his grip. "Be careful. The rocks in here are wet and slimy. Breaking your ankle on one will do us little good. As far as I can tell, we're underwater with the sea slowly creeping in on us. Careful if you try to stand. The ceiling is about three inches above you."  
  
*thump*  
  
"I warned you," Schu muttered, curling his arms about himself, trying to stop his own shakings from the combined cold and wetness surrounding him. It had been fool's luck that his cloves had been in a tin along with his lighter and protected from the sea.  
  
Rubbing his head with a scowl, Ran slid his longcoat about around himself, shivering as well in the damp air. Another slow rumbling of the area they were trapped in stopped him. From over his shoulder came a spark of flame, Schuldich holding his lighter up to cast a faint glow around. Water had claimed most of the room, a good three feet of it below him. Why hadn't Schuldich merely let him lay down there and drown? Or bashed his head in with a rock? Run him through with his own blade?  
  
"Who wants to die alone?"  
  
Ran's gaze snapped back to Schuldich angrily. The fact that the telepath had saved his life was lost on him, especially since it had only been done to keep loneliness away. Probably just to amuse himself as well at watching Ran slowly drown. Wrapping his sodden coat about him further, Ran's eyes continued to rove over the walls about him. Water was already dripping or coming in at a slow spray through a few holes in them. His katana could probably cut through one of them and let him have a chance to swim for the surface. Why...  
  
"Because I broke my arm in the fall, Ran. I think my ankle too. I can't swim."  
  
"Did anyone ever tell you how annoying it is to not even have a thought to themselves or to finish one?" Ran asked, venom in his voice.  
  
"All the time," Schuldich replied with a malicious grin, thoroughly enjoying Ran's discomfort and lack of privacy. "It's especially annoying to Nagi when we sit down in the mornings to eat breakfast, and I recite his last night's wet dreams. You wouldn't think that a piece of toast could be a near lethal weapon. Speaking of dreams, you'd be surprised at some that your team has, especially about you."  
  
Leather covered fingers tightened on the hilt of the katana, wanting nothing more than to shove the blade through the German, twist it hard enough to fracture his spine and rip it to pieces. Straining to keep his voice even, Ran's frosted violet eyes stayed locked on Schuldich, dead of the emotions within. "Don't dirty them with the filth from your mind or mouth. We're getting out of here. You can sit there or come with me. I don't care either way."  
  
"Awww Ranran. And here I was just getting used to your company."  
  
Ran could feel the German's grin in the darkness before his lighter flared to life once more, casting a weak circle of light around them. Watching the telepath move down into the water that was at their hips now, he forced himself not to feel pity. Schu had said that his arm had been broken, not shattered as he could see it was now. Red splashed the white of the Schwarz member's suit across his arm, the limb held gingerly against his body. The shard of bone erupting from near the wrist was the worse... at least, the worse that he could see. *He pulled me and lifted me up with that?* Ran thought in wonderment before forcing the thought from his mind before it could be read.   
  
Schu leaned heavily against the wall as he started to come down, favouring his right ankle greatly. A rock twisted beneath him, spilling the telepath into the freezing water before Ran could catch him, the lighter tumbling from his fingers to be lost. Darkness swallowed them once more. With a jerk and another jolt of pain from his own sprung or broken ribs, Ran hauled him back up, an arm sliding beneath the telepath's knees to hold him. He could hear the other's teeth chattering, entire body caught up in spasming shivers. If the two of them didn't get out of this trap soon, they were both going to drown, freeze to death, or suffocate.  
  
With his free hand before him, Ran felt his way to the wall he remembered, the one laced with cracks across the surface. For a time, he considered dumping Schuldich into the water, letting him drown or suffer from the cold. It was the memory of the telepath's arm and fall down the rocks that kept him from it. For some reason, Schuldich had dragged him up on the rocks, kept him out of the water, wrapped his own coat around his unconscious body when he could have simply stolen it. He couldn't just let him die here and now. Setting Schuldich on his feet, he kept his arms about the man's body, a stray thought sliding through his mind on just how slender the man was. All this time, he'd expected him to be more compact, more weighty under his clothing. At least that lack of weight was working in his favour now. Ran's own mind kept voicing his own fears, reminding him over and over that Schuldich was in shock probably, having pulled him up when he couldn't feel it or could ignore it and was now paying the price. "Schuldich... Schuldich... wake up," he murmured, slapping the telepath's cheeks lightly and then harder when no response came. "Schwarz! Wake up!"  
  
"Wha..."  
  
"Stay awake. I need you to hold onto me. I'm going to have to cut through this wall, and I can't hold you and do it at the same time," he said, slowly lowering Schuldich back into the frigid waters, assured some as he felt the telepath's hands touch on his backside. Drawing his katana, he brought it down on the wall before them, muttering a prayer under his breath that this worked.  
  
It worked... a bit too well. A high pressure wall of water crashed in on the two, sweeping them back to the other side of the room. The katana was jerked from Ran's grasp and swallowed by the sea as he twisted in the current, trying to swim for the hole he'd made. Something brushed along his side, something warm in the coldness enveloping him. Snatching his hand out, he gathered in a handful of Schuldich's jacket, pulling the telepath along with him. It seemed like an eternity before he broke the surface, pulling in lungfuls of air greedily. The telepath seemed to weigh a ton now, Ran forcing his head up from under the water as well.  
  
In the cold silver moonlight from above, Schuldich's face was too pale, his lips stained a purplish blue with too dark hollows beneath his eyes. Swimming for the shore, Ran's tired mind kept reminding him to keep the telepath above the water, to force his already exhausted arms to keep supporting him. Pulling himself up on the sand, he pulled the other male after him, nearly fainting in relief. It was only his stoic nature that kept his eyes open when all they wanted to do was close for a few minutes nap. Lowering his cheek next to Schu's, no breath came from between those lips. Growling in frustration, Ran began working on him, trying to force the water up and out of him. The entire time, his mind kept chanting to him *It's too late, he's dead. You let him die. It's too late, he's-*  
  
Streams of water erupted from Schuldich's lips, coughed up weakly. Ran dropped to the sticky sand beside him, nearly relishing every hurt sounding cough and whoop for air from the other male. He'd gotten them both out. Whatever debt he owed Schuldich for keeping him from drowning in that room was now repaid. All he wanted to do now was take a nap... just a short one... a few minutes of sleep to let some of this exhaustion stop... just a few minutes.  
  
---------------  
  
"Over here!"  
  
The blonde Knight of the Crashers crouched down beside Ran, fingers pressed to the side of that marble white throat as he felt for a pulse. A smile broke across his lips at the steady beat of the other's heart, worry that he might be dead passing away. With that fear gone, he began pulling Ran away from the telepath he had washed up beside. It was the Crasher's non-lethal policy and the blonde's own sense of chivalry that kept him from killing the Schwarz member or from simply shoving him back into the sea... but it was close. What had he done to Ran to leave the two of them like this? What had happened?   
  
Violet frost eyes regarded Knight with a dulled surprise as Ran opened his eyes. *Yuushi? What's he doing here* was the slow line of thought that surfaced in his clouded mind. *Schuldich* followed quickly on that. Flailing a hand out for the telepath, Ran tried to pull himself up, check on the German but was betrayed by his own weakened body. Coherent thought and action just weren't working.  
  
Knight caught the assassin as he tried to raise himself, warm arms that felt like iron wrapped in velvet encircling him. "Ran, Bishop is on the way. We're going to transport you to one of our safe houses until we can get ahold of the rest of Kritiker. There's a doctor of our own already there. Just hold onto me."  
  
Ran shook his head slowly, sending the ice chips from the cold temperatures that clung to the dark red tendrils flying. "No... take Schuldich first. I can walk. Just give me a minute."  
  
"Ran..."  
  
"Now, Knight."  
  
(to be continued...) 


	2. Chapter Two Where All the Pieces Landed

Title: A Question of Innocence 2/?  
Pairings : RanxSchu, YuushixNaru… they'll be more as they make themselves known  
Warnings: Yaoi (like you hadn't guessed it from what I write) Post series, so if you haven't seen the series and don't want what happens in it spoiled, don't read this. Manga spoilers as well. If you haven't read that and don't want it spoiled, don't read... Violence (this is Weiß Kreuz after all)... Crashers spoilers as well for Ran's preWeiß time... I am aware that the Crasher ages are off most likely. In this fic, they are Pawn 20, Knight and Bishop 23, and Rook 28.  
One last note, this will tend to jump since I'm threading together a great many people. I do apologize for some of the oddness in leaping from scene to scene, but trust me; it's all relevant in the end.  
  
Honjou Yuushi leaned against the doorway as he studied Ran. Two weeks had passed since he and the rest of the Crashers had pulled the redhead out of the ocean, along with the telepath. When they had gotten back to their safe house, the doctor had been forced to work on Schuldich first. Ran's katana was an excellent motivational tool when employed for that use. Like a hated ghost from the past, the doctor began to reel of information to them. Blood loss... force of the hit... vegative coma... He had watched Ran's face harden as the spill of words had continued, becoming a closed and hard mask.  
  
They still hadn't told Kritiker of Schuldich's existence. In all reports, he had been listed as missing and presumed dead, at least all the reports that Yuushi could access. Crashers only had a limited range that they could operate within in the Kritiker database. Queen knew about him, of course. She had stood where Yuu himself now stood a week ago and had a quiet argument with him. Closing his eyes, Yuu could still hear them in his mind.  
  
**  
"You are not thinking clearly, Abyssinian. He is the enemy, Schwarz. He must be turned over to Kritiker, immediately."  
  
"The only way he'll go to whatever Kritiker has planned for him is when you pry Shion from my dead hand," Ran had replied, never pausing in his task of slowly combing out the sleeping telepath's hair. "I will have him moved within the hour and out of the Crasher house, Queen. He is not your concern."  
  
Queen had let out a tired sigh at that point, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Ran... keep him here. Better we keep danger in sight that hidden."  
  
Violet eyes that held no warmth rose to Queen's face, the voice spilling from Ran's lips dead in tone. It was almost as if a stranger had taken over the other's body, and Yuu had found himself wondering, not for the first time, if it were possible for Schuldich to have possessed Ran somehow. "Give me your word that he will not be harmed when I have to leave his side, and we will both remain here. I trust you, Queen. I would be upset if I discovered that trust misplaced."  
  
Yuu had watched the muscles tighten in the woman's jaws, seeing the barely veiled threat in the words. "He is not Aya-chan."  
  
"Give me your word, or we leave now. You will not find us once we go, Queen. Do not attempt to use that threat against me. I stayed in clear sight, and Botan had trouble finding me."  
  
The silent battle of the wills had continued as Queen and Ran merely stared at each other. She was the first to give, releasing a slow breath. "I promise you that I will not harm him and nor will any Crasher unless he turns on us. I will not tell Kritiker he is here unless becomes a danger to us."  
  
Ran's eyes had stayed focused on hers for a time longer as if he were searching her soul to see if she spoke the truth before turning back to the telepath. The discussion and any further conversation was over as far as he was concerned.  
**  
  
As Yuushi still lingered in the doorway, he watched his onetime partner... even friend as Ran sat silently, holding Schuldich's hand within his own. The assassin was tracing patterns over the telepath's palm, violet eyes downcast to watch the path of his own fingertip. Turning away, he headed down the hall to his own room. Something had to be done and done soon. Ran was turning into an obsessive stranger that he didn't recognize anymore. He would get up, go to the flower Shoppe and work as well as see Aya-chan, do a mission if there was one, and then return here in the evening or night to take care of Schuldich. Head down, he blinked up out of his thoughts at a paper ball bouncing off his head. Arching a brow, he peeked around the cornre of Masato's room at the Crasher within. "Was that necessary and what are you doing?"  
  
Masato grinned up at him from the pile of paperwork he was plunked down in the middle of. "When Reiichi said that he needed a little help in sorting old mission files, I didn't expect to be buried alive. Wanna help? And before you check, Naru isn't back yet. He's still at the you-know-what getting the you-know-stuff."  
  
It was pure will that kept Yuushi's lips from forming into a grin at Masato's attempt to be sneaky. Shutting the door behind him, he settled on the floor next to the other Crasher, trying to figure out whatever system the other had of sorting the cases. Unfortunately, there appeared to be none. Pitching his voice in a whisper, the edges of that grin he was fighting began to sneak in. "Ran is busy with Mastermind, so he should have a free area to work in. You really think there's anything there?"  
  
Masato's massive shoulders shrugged as he squinted at one of the papers, looking remarkably like a monkey trying to read a roadmap. "Why does Reiichi have such little writing? I don't know, Yuu. There's precious little on his sister in Kritiker's database. If he talks to the others of Weiß, he might find out something. If Ran's left anything in his room, Naru will find it. He's good at that."  
  
Yuu rolled his eyes, preferring that it had been himself or Reiichi that had gone. Naru tended to get... overenthusiastic about things, going like a ferret on crack when excited about something. "Did you call and tell them that we needed a meeting with them over this Ran thing?"  
  
"I thought you were supposed to..."  
  
"Masato! They don't know he's coming?"  
  
Masato could only shrug helplessly as he rose from the leaning towers of papers he'd been among. "Come on... let's go pay these kittens a visit and hope Naru hasn't gotten himself strung up."  
  
-------------------------  
  
Uhyou Naru hadn't gotten himself tied up literally, not yet, but he was pretty sure he was close to it. At present, he had the nearly six-foot frame of Kudou Youji looming over his smaller one of 5'4. A cattleya bloom was slowly being stroked over his cheeks as the playboy's too knowing green eyes tried to fasten onto his tan ones that were darting about for someone to get help from. Youji's left arm was firmly planted again the wall on Naru's left side, the rest of the Weiß assassin's bulk keeping him from going right. The youngest Crasher had seen case file photos of what this man could do with the wire that was currently too visible on his wrist. He had no wish to test and see if those were true. Whoever hadn't called ahead and made sure that Weiß knew he was coming was going to have their toilet blow up under their ass tomorrow.  
  
Squirming to the side that wasn't covered by Youji's arm, Naru's cheeks were a bright rose shade where the petals of Youji's flower had been drawing lines down his skin. Of all the times and places to be caught, Youji had nabbed him right when he was trying to sneak down to the mission room. Little had he known that the playboy had kept his back to him intentionally while Naru had been poking about the shoppe, waiting for him to do something out of the ordinary. Now, he was trapped.  
  
Youji's body shifted to counter Naru's movement and force him closer to the wall as the flower kissed against the Crasher's pale lips. A half whimper came from those same lips as the youth flattened himself back as much as possible. "Look, I've tried to tell you, Bali..."  
  
An eyebrow arched slowly as Youji leaned closer to this blonde bishie that had been wandering around where he wasn't supposed to be. Something about him had been suspicious, setting off every internal warning system he had. The kid had been too nervous, too jumpy and focused on something that had zero to do with flowers. Seeing him start for the mission room the instant his back had been turned confirmed it. At first he'd only gazed down at his new captive, the flower an afterthought that worked well. Whoever this one was, he didn't like being touched or simply wasn't used to it. That already tightly wound spring in him was tensing up even further. And now he was willing to bet this little blonde had just started to call him by his codename. How interesting could his day get?   
  
Leaning closer until he could taste the wintergreen on the youth's near panted breaths, Youji kept his beguiling smile. There was an edge of coldness on it as well as his emerald eyes that loomed above the Crasher. "Bali... now where did that come from, little one? Why don't you start at the beginning and tell me what you were doing?"  
  
"Yotan!" called a voice from behind them as Ken came into shoppe, only able to blink at the sight of Youji with a blonde... boy... pressed up against the wall. "Oi, Yotan! Now isn't the time to be picking up a date."  
  
"Lock up early," Youji replied, his gaze settling back on the Crasher, spearing him in his place as easily as he would a bug on a pin.  
  
Ken nodded and moved to the door, taking a quick peek over his shoulder at the pair. The stranger looked scared to death, as if Youji were going to eat him alive. Moving to lock the door, a hand wound itself about Ken's wrist as the door was pushed open gently. A pair of smiling eyes of hazel glanced towards him and darted to Youji. The stranger stepped through the door and nudged it shut with his foot, letting Ken lock it even as he kept his grip on his wrist even as the fingers tightened slightly at watching the assassin and Crasher. "Siberian? I'm going to advise you now to get Balinese off Pawn before Knight comes through that door. It wouldn't be healthy for Balinese if that's the first thing he sees."  
  
----------------------------------  
  
Fujimiya Ran breathed a sigh of relief as the Crashers finally left. He generally didn't mind them about, but he just wanted to be alone today. Alone with Schuldich. Finishing combing out the comatose telepath's hair, he gazed down at the other's face. Asleep, the hard lines had been erased. His enemy was now the one he kept a vigil over. Why? That was something he couldn't quite reconcile with himself. Why did he risk Kritiker's wrath and being hunted by his own team for hiding the enemy from them?   
  
Studying the sleeping face before him, he had no answer to give that would have satisfied them. It wasn't because of Aya-chan... not really. He saw her everyday, worked alongside her, and tried not to interfere too much in the life she was slowly building for herself. So much had been robbed from her while she slept. Now she was rediscovering it all with the help of Manx and Birman. She would chatter on to him for hours about her schoolwork, her friend, and worst of all, boys. Every time she mentioned a new and 'kawaii' one, Ran's stomache did a nosedive. He somehow doubted that any teenager wanting to date his precious sister would meet his standards and him lurking about waiting for them to come home with his katana in hand would probably not be a welcome sight.  
  
A strand of the German's hair was tucked back behind his ear by a patient Ran. Why? Schuldich had saved his life, but hadn't he repaid that debt by saving the other from the ocean? No. Maybe he just wanted to see the German open his eyes and ask him why. Why after fighting for so long that Schuldich had taken the pain of moving him with a shattered arm and ankle up to higher ground so he didn't drown? Why did he even bother to help him?   
  
Perhaps it was just that it was a vigil. Someone had to keep it.  
  
----------------  
Brad Crawford was not a man to be fucked with.  
  
Standing before the Kritiker run hospital, the American was coldly composed, leaning against the hood of his custom Mercedes as he gazed up at the blank windows of the building. Nagi was in there somewhere, maybe Schuldich as well. The muted click of the car door shutting was signal enough that Farfarello was ready to proceed. Whatever fools had seen fit to imprison one of his team members here were about to see the folly of their actions.  
  
Stalking towards the door, he offered a faint smile to the guard that came to check his ID. A silenced gun finished the man off before he ever had time to realize that he'd been shot. Farfarello slung the man's body over his shoulder, following in Crawford's wake like a deadly shadow. A trail of blood marked their way to the nurse's station, finding out just where Nagi was being kept in this place.  
  
Even the blank whiteness of the walls angered Crawford as he walked towards the room that the now deceased nurse had pointed out to him. Two shots dispatched the guards there as well. Fate worked with him in that Kritiker believed him to be dead. Those that had been set to keep the infamous Prodigy from being rescued never thought that someone wearing an Armani business suit would be bringing death to them. Evidentially the new agents that Kritiker was churning out weren't well versed in the dangers of Schwarz.  
  
Pushing open the door of the cell/hospital room, the sight that greeted him made Crawford's stomache lurch. Nagi sat in a corner of the padded cell, banging his head back against the cushioned surface and blowing spit bubbles. A line of his own spittle ran down to his chin, dripping to below while the telekinetic's vacant eyes were fixed on the wall. Crouching before him, Brad's fingers rose to wave before those midnight eyes, disbelief flooding him. This couldn't be Nagi. This wasn't the teen who's eyes seemed to hold the mysteries of the universe at times... that placid expression he usually wore giving no hint of what ran in the mind beneath. There was no intelligence in this drooling and dirty kid before him. The hollow snapping sound of Brad's fingers went unacknowledged, the monotonous beating of Nagi's head against the wall not stopping.  
  
Placing a hand against those dirtied locks of deep brown, Crawford cradled the boy's head, bringing his face around to his own. "Nagi...Naoe Nagi."  
  
For a moment, something flickered in Nagi's eyes, some understanding beneath the drugged gaze that had been fixed on him. Pale lips formed the word 'Oracle' before the teen resumed trying to bang his head back on the wall once more. Arms wound under Nagi's back and knees, lifting the telekinetic with him as he stood. A few steps brought him back to the corridor, Farfarello's laughter drifting through the empty hall back towards him. Spotting the now blood flecked Irishman, Crawford's cold eyes settled on him. "Find me the one who runs this place. I have a few questions that require answers, Berserker." 


End file.
